I haven’t been watching much of “Grey’s Anatomy” lately, but I do know that Katerine Hiegl’s character Izzie Stevens has cancer, so when I caught tonight’s episode, I was somewhat prepared for the storyline. What I wasn’t prepared for was my reaction to the end of the show, when Izzie pulls fistfuls of hair from her head.
She cried.
I cried.
I cried big, sobbing tears, because even though I am almost five years removed from that same helpless, hopeless feeling, it was still there, right in the pit of my stomach, waiting to be called up.
My cancer memories are vivid. Every one of them. But nothing is as vivid as the feeling that suffocated me the day my hair started falling out, when it washed from my head in the shower and gathered in the drain, and wound around my brush, and then covered my pillowcase when I woke up the next morning.
“That was the worst,” I told my husband as “Grey’s Anatomy” ended tonight and Izzie sat in a hospital bed with a completely bald head. “You survived it,” John said. Yes, I did. But I’ll never forget it.
Tags: bald, greys-anatomy, hair, izzie-stevens, katherine-heigl
I have a very good friend that went through this at a young age. I’m happy to say that she is doing very well.
Hi Jacki,
Your blog is so gritty and real. I have checked out a bunch of your entries and am so moved by all that you have shared. Thank you for chronicling your journey for other patients to follow, relate and understand.
I would love to ask you a few questions and if you wouldn’t mind please email me.
Thanks so much! It makes my heart happy to know that you are doing so well!
Take care, Dawn
This story is very touching. It is so real and heart felt. My younger cousin went through this similar situation and she is only 15 years old ( yet this happened to her when she was only 11). It is inspiring how you and others with breast cancer and breast cancer survivers are so strong. It is just beautiful. We should appreciate our stuggles in life for the only make us stronger and you are a living example.